UK Edition
Pep Guardiola: Everybody spies in European football - I did it at Bayern Munich but won't at Manchester City
Pep Guardiola has admitted he was complicit in European football’s culture of spying while at Barcelona and Bayern Munich but insisted it was not a practice he would be repeating in England with Manchester City.
The FA and Football League have launched investigations into the Leeds United spying scandal after the club’s manager, Marcelo Bielsa, admitted he was responsible for sending a member of his staff to watch Derby County train 24 hours before their Championship game at Elland Road.
Bielsa subsequently admitted to spying on all of Leeds’ Championship rivals this season during an extraordinary 70 minute press conference this week, when the Argentine offered a PowerPoint presentation to journalists detailing the level of opposition analysis he undertakes.
Guardiola said he had no plans to send City staff on such covert reconnaissance missions but, defending his friend and mentor, the Catalan supported Bielsa’s claims that spying was an accepted practice on the continent and acknowledged it happened on his watch at Barcelona and Bayern.
“In other countries everybody does that,” Guardiola said of spying ahead of City’s game away to bottom club Huddersfield Town on Sunday. “It is the culture of the clubs. It was part of the club. Not because you said, ‘You have to do it’. It is the leagues.
“When we were training at Bayern Munich, there were people in the little mountains with cameras and the opponent was watching what we did. Everybody did it. [But] I am not going to send anyone to spy on Huddersfield!”
Asked if he felt the culture was different in England, Guardiola added: “I don’t know. It is more difficult [to do here]. It [training] is private. It is closed. But in all the countries I have been before, everybody does it.”
Bielsa told a story this week about how, after his Athletic Bilbao side lost 3-0 to Guardiola’s Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final in 2012, he sent Guardiola his extensive analysis on Barcelona as a gift. Guardiola responded by telling Bielsa “you know more about Barcelona than me!”
Guardiola confirmed the tale and insisted the “spygate” row had not diminished his respect for Bielsa in any way as he stressed it was society’s nature to be nosey.
“Barcelona was a bunker - it was impossible to look at us, like it is here [at City], but that story is true,” Guardiola said. “I didn’t see the whole press conference [from Bielsa] but I saw the highlights.
“My respect [for him] remains the same. He was clear in his statement. I admired what he did in the past. Why should I change my opinion? I know him a little bit. My opinion remains the same. I understand [Derby manager] Frank Lampard’s position too.
“No manager has the amount of information he [Bielsa] produces for every single game, for every single player and every single movement. It is unique what he does.
“I cannot talk about what the other managers do but the truth is everybody wants to know everything, not just in football but in society. Everybody spies on everybody in society. They want to see what happens with this person or the gossip about this man or that man. Everyone is curious about what other people say.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola has confirmed City are looking to sign a left back in the summer amid continuing concerns over Benjamin Mendy’s long-term fitness. Mendy began training with City’s first team again this week after knee surgery but he will not be available against Huddersfield. Ben Chilwell, the Leicester City and England left back, is Guardiola’s leading target. Having missed most of last season with a ruptured cruciate, Mendy has been sidelined since early November with a fresh knee injury and Guardiola is reluctant to keep improvising at left back with Fabian Delph, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Danilo.
“We survived well last season, this season too, but we are thinking about that [a new left back] yeah,” Guardiola said. “I cannot assure you as I’m delighted with the players I have and at the end of the season we are going to decide but we are going to look at both options on the table. He [Mendy] trains incredibly well. Sometimes it [injury] happens. Hopefully this will be the last time.”